dorm life, 1971

every room 

in every dorm

has music playing

everyone has a turntable

under the desk

an orange crate of records

it's riotous walking down the hall

the equivalent

of listening to the car radio

each room a different station

woodstock is still reverberating

girls are singing and dancing 

boys

away from home for the first time

are letting their hair grow

their freak flag flying

ignoring their draft numbers

or getting wrecked

the night before their physical

heeding arlo's advice

except for casey who joins the coast guard

and the twins, the army

and newberry, who just came back

the names on the news are

nixon

agnew

mcgovern

mccarthy

humphrey

huey

x

hoffman

abdul-jabbar

the sound effects are

the whup-whup-whup of helicopter blades

and body counts

pot is being consumed

and cigarettes

algebra is happening

and botany

poli-sci essays are being hammered out

on typewriters

poems of woe and angst and unrequited love

are taking form

coffee from the commons

and amphetamines 

are stoking the creative juices 

and the cramming

someone is making a run

to the market for cheap beer 

and boone's farm strawberry wine

coupling

is going on at night

generational discord is the norm

moratoriums

sit-ins

marches

surveillance

liberation

psychedelia

what if they gave a war

and nobody came

love it or leave it

jocks

freaks

hippies

straights

red-necks

the establishment

gay

a whisper

a storm on the horizon

abortions

broken hearts

cheap thrills

butterfly kisses

music is everywhere

a song for every occasion

telling the tale of a generation

~

now

the dorms are silent

plugged-in